The four key players in digital forensics software: Guidance, AccessData, Paraben and Technology Pathways Digital forensics software can help preserve and examine data needed in investigations and litigation.For expert advice on evaluating, implementing and using digital forensics, see the companion article Rules of Evidence—Digital Forensics Tools.Here’s a look at the leaders in the market.Guidance Software’s EnCase Considered the Cadillac of digital forensics tools, EnCase is the clear market leader in digital forensics, with 26,000 users of its single-workstation version and over 300 users of EnCase Enterprise, which works over the network. While widely accepted, it has also been criticized for being unintuitive and complex. The latest version adds a full-text indexing engine, a native file viewer and expanded e-mail support. EnCase is more expensive than other options, starting at $25,000. AccessData’s Forensics Toolkit With its release in January 2008 of an enterprise version, AccessData is looking to directly compete with Guidance, with the claim of being easier to learn and use, especially with the help of wizards for data acquisition, filtering, case management and reporting. AD Enterprise contains all the capabilities of its single-workstation product FTK 2.0, but it adds an Oracle back end, allowing for advanced data correlation and reporting. Paraben Corp. P2Paraben provides single-workstation toolkits, as well as a suite that enables remote monitoring over the network. Although it has an extensive tool suite, it has not caught on in the industry as well as the EnCase and AccessData products. Its major distinction is its support for handhelds (PDAs running the Palm OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC/Mobile 4.x, BlackBerry and Symbian) as well as cell phones and global positioning system devices. Technology Pathways’ ProDiscover Technology Pathways was one of the first to offer a remote forensics capability, but according to users, the tool does not scale as well as AccessData and Encase. Users call ProDiscover a powerful evidence-collecting toolset, but other suites offer a fuller set of capabilities outside of investigate inquiries, such as HR compliance reviews. Related content news analysis Cisco unveils AI-powered assistants to level up security defenses New AI-driven tools aim to simplify and bolster policies, alerts and prevention to reduce complexity when setting security policies and assess traffic without decryption. By Rosalyn Page Dec 05, 2023 5 mins Encryption Cloud Security brandpost Sponsored by Microsoft Security How Microsoft and Amazon are expanding the fight against international tech support fraud By partnering with other companies to share vital information and resources, Microsoft is taking the fight to ever-evolving support fraud in 2024…and beyond. By Microsoft Security Dec 05, 2023 1 min Security news analysis Russia's Fancy Bear launches mass credential collection campaigns The campaigns exploit Outlook and WinRAR flaws to target government, defense, and other entities, and they represent a change of tactic for the APT28 group. By Lucian Constantin Dec 05, 2023 5 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities brandpost Sponsored by Palo Alto Networks Addressing vulnerabilities in OT environments requires a Zero Trust approach Here’s a rundown of why manufacturers are so exposed and how Zero Trust can help solve many security issues. By Navneet Singh, vice president of marketing, network security, Palo Alto Networks Dec 05, 2023 6 mins Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe